When a couple noticed small amounts of food disappearing from their kitchen, they originally suspected mice.

However, when they found long white hairs on their bed and around their bedroom, they quickly realised their mystery visitor had to be a little bit bigger.

Whilst the couple never saw an actual cat themselves, there were signs that indicated that a small feline could, in theory, enter their house through a hidden hole in the wall of their laundry room. Soon after suspecting that they had an intruder, the couple then began to hear the odd faint mewing sound, which always seemed to come from under their feet.

A few days later, they were shocked to discover that a stray cat was in fact now living under their floorboards, after seemingly becoming trapped in the midst of a stealthy expedition!

As the couple had no idea how the cat had got under the floor, and were unsure how to get it back out, they called Mayhew for help. Animal Welfare Officer Tania Mazzoni went straight out to the rescue, and eventually located Barry – a five year-old white stray – by following the sound of his cries.

We believe that Barry had been trapped under the floor for approximately 7 to 10 days. As he had only had access to tiny morsels of food, he was significantly underweight and extremely dehydrated. Tania carefully extracted Barry from his temporary camp and brought him into Mayhew, where our Vets gave him a full health check. After establishing there were no immediate causes for concern, we settled Barry into a warm and cosy cat cabin, and began to reintroduce a proper nutritional diet. After seven days in our care, Barry was checked over in our Clinic once again, where he was also neutered, microchipped and vaccinated.

Happily, Barry quickly regained the weight he had lost, and was soon back to being his beautiful and bouncy self. He is now ready to find his furr-ever home (above the floorboards!), and is currently available for adoption.

Harry, the owner of the property where Barry became trapped, said “Initially we thought Barry was merely a cheeky cat burglar, and although we never actually saw him, we wouldn’t have dreamed he’d get himself trapped and into trouble.”